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G20 Taskforce asks for global panel to address 'inequality crisis'
The G20 taskforce, established by the South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, has called for an international panel on inequality. They warn that extreme wealth disparities can disrupt democracy and lead to economic instability. Joseph Stiglitz is the chairman of the Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality. The report, commissioned by South Africa as part of its G20 presidency, found that since 2000 the richest one percent of the world's population has captured 41% of all new wealth. According to the World Inequality Lab, data shows that the poorest half of the population increased their wealth only by 1%. Stiglitz said that the situation is not only unfair, but also undermines social cohesion. It's a problem both for our economy and politics. In a press release, the taskforce stated that a panel on inequality would be modeled after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The taskforce would monitor the causes and effects of inequality and provide insights to policymakers and governments. The report warns that countries with high levels of inequality, which account for 83% of the global population, are more likely than others to suffer from democratic decline. They cited "perfect storms" of global shocks, such as COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, and trade disputes for escalating poverty and inequality. The authors noted that 1 in 4 people skip meals regularly and that the wealth of billionaires has reached its highest level ever. The G20's first taskforce on inequality is expected to make its findings known to the G20 leaders in Johannesburg, South Africa in November. The United States will take over the rotating G20 Presidency at the end this year. (Reporting and editing by Nellie Cawthorne, Andrew Cawthorne, and SiyandaMthethwa)
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Haddad, Brazil's Haddad, says $10 billion forest fund is 'possible in the first year'
Fernando Haddad, Brazil's Finance minister, said that mobilizing 10 billion dollars in public resources to the Tropical Forests Forever Facility would be an ambitious but "possible target" for its first-year. The TFFF is a flagship project for Brazil, as it hosts the COP30 Climate Talks. It aims to raise $125 Billion to support global conservation of endangered forest. Haddad, speaking on the sidelines a Bloomberg event held in Sao Paulo said that other nations might indicate contributions to the fund at the United Nations Climate Summit in Belem, Brazil next week. Haddad, a G20 member, said that if a few countries joined the initiative, we could start compensating nations who preserve tropical forests. This would include those with debts. Haddad refused to reveal the names of the countries who had expressed interest in contributing to this fund. The fund is aimed at raising $25 billion through governments and philanthropies, to attract $100 billion private sector. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva In September, the largest economy in Latin America announced that it would contribute $1 billion. It urged other nations to do the same so that the TFFF can be operational by COP30. Haddad stated that the Indonesian government had also agreed to contribute. The fund will be administered like an endowment, and countries will receive annual stipends depending on the amount of tropical forest they still have standing. Brazil's Finance Ministry released its October financial report. The World Bank agreed to be the financial manager and trustee for the TFFF. (Reporting and editing by Simon Jessop; Oliver Griffin and Marcela Ayres)
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US and Vulcan Elements sign agreement to boost rare-earth magnet supply
Vulcan Elements and the U.S. Government have formed a partnership to increase domestic production of rare earth magnets. This is the latest attempt to reduce reliance on China and secure the supply of vital minerals. Vulcan, a North Carolina-based company, said that it would build and run a 10,000-metric ton magnet facility in the U.S. in exchange for an equity stake. The Pentagon will invest $50 million and the Department of Commerce will invest $25 million under the Chips Act. The Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital will provide a direct loan of $620 million, and private capital of $550 million. ReElement Technologies is a U.S. refiner of critical minerals and rare earths. It will receive an $80 million direct Loan from the Office of Strategic Capital, which will be matched with private capital, to expand its recycling capabilities. Rare earth magnets can be found in motors for electric vehicles, windmills, hard disks and medical devices such as MRI machines. Vulcan has agreed to purchase critical minerals from ReElement for five years starting in 2026. (Reporting by Dharna Bafna in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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Exxon explores refinery upgrades to focus on higher-valued products
Exxon Mobil, a company executive said in an interview, is looking at other opportunities to renovate sites after launching operations this year at four new initiatives for refining and chemicals. Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods described the projects as part of a larger strategy to transform low-value feedstocks and chemicals into products that are more valuable. He said that upgrading existing refineries and diversifying the production will allow the company to maintain low investment costs and better withstand fluctuating demand and supply markets. Matt Crocker, Exxon's president of product solution, said in an exclusive interview conducted last Wednesday before the earnings report, "We are looking at our current facilities and finding opportunities to upgrade them so that we can provide high-valued products." As we look to the future, I see us doing more projects of this type. Exxon's third-quarter refining profits jumped 41% from the previous year to $1.8 billion, as refinery margins improved. The earnings of the chemicals segment fell by 42% to $515m from the prior year. In September, the top U.S. producer of oil began production at its Singapore complex to convert fuel oil and residue into base stocks. The company also started producing renewable diesel in Canada at the Strathcona Refinery and increased the low-sulfur production at the Fawley Refinery in the UK. Woods highlighted the Baytown refinery and chemical complex, another project in the company's strategy on Friday. "We have great opportunities with this asset base." Woods stated that we are pursuing these assets aggressively and with good returns. Exxon has set six projects for this year, including refinery and chemicals. Crocker stated that the remaining two projects - expanding the advanced plastics recycling, and manufacturing more thermoset - will still be launched by the end the year. Crocker also started operations at a major new petrochemical facility in China. This has led to a rapid increase in global capacity of petrochemicals, and put pressure on the industry margins. Crocker, despite the fact that the industry is at its bottom of the cycle right now, said it sees a return to a more robust market and is focused on long-term. He said: "There is a lot of growth in demand that's typically tied to the gross domestic product, and this fundamental hasn't shifted." Shruthi Vangipuram, Wood Mackenzie's senior research analyst in base chemicals, says that Exxon has an advantage over smaller crackers, which use more expensive naphtha. Sheila Dang reported from Houston, and Nathan Crooks edited the story.
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Dollar up slightly after Amazon-OpenAI agreement
The dollar was near its three-month-high versus the Euro due to the waning expectation of hefty U.S. interest rate cuts. Amazon shares rose more than 4% after the multi-year, $38 billion Amazon OpenAI deal. As expected, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last week. Jerome Powell, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, said that another rate cut in December is "not a certainty", contrary to what some investors believed. On Friday, some Fed officials expressed their dissatisfaction with the central banks decision to lower rates. Meanwhile, influential Fed Governor Christopher Waller argued for further policy easing in order to support a weakening labour market. The ongoing U.S. shutdown has prevented most economic data from being released in the United States. Investors are optimistic regarding AI and the progress made with China in regards to the trade truce. Adam Sarhan is the chief executive officer of 50 Park Investments, a New York-based investment firm. "The AI stocks and tech shares are up today, and everything else is down." He said that the "clear narrowing of leadership" was continuing in an obvious way. TRUMP'S TARIFS GO TO SUPREME CREEK Arguments are scheduled for Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is examining whether President Donald Trump’s tariffs on global products are legal. Trump's tariffs will likely remain in place for a long time, regardless of the legal basis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 178.13, or 0.37 percent, to 47.384.74. The S&P 500 rose by 13.39, or 0.19 percent, to 6,853.36. And the Nasdaq Composite rose by 108.07, or 0.46 percent, to 23,833.03. The MSCI index of global stocks rose by 1.61 points or 0.16% to 1,007.84. The pan-European STOXX 600 rose by 0.07%. This week, investors will also be able to see more quarterly results for technology companies. Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company, is expected to release its report following the closing bell. Palantir's shares rose 2.8%. This week, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Qualcomm will also report their results. Uber and McDonald's are due to make a statement. Megacap U.S. companies reported mixed results last week. Investors want to see a return from the capital expenditure on AI. DOLLAR GAINS AGAINST PRIMARY CURRENCIES The euro, after falling as low as $1.1500 against the dollar - its lowest since August 1 - pared its losses and traded down 0.13% to $1.1519. The Institute for Supply Management reported that U.S. manufacturing shrank for the eighth consecutive month in October, as orders were subdued and materials took longer to arrive at factories due to tariffs on imported products. The dollar index (which measures the greenback in relation to a basket currency) rose by 0.07%, reaching 99.87. The dollar gained 0.14% against the Japanese yen to reach 154.21. The pound fell 0.08%, to $1.314, before the Bank of England's rate decision due later this week. Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency, was down by 2% to $107 486. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. notes increased 1.1 basis points from late Friday to 4.112%. U.S. crude oil rose 7 cents, settling at $61.05 per barrel. Investors digested the news that OPEC+ intends to stop its supply increases.
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Peru's Upland contests disqualification for relaunching of top Amazon oilfield
After being disqualified a few days ago, Upland Oil and Gas, formerly Peru's biggest Amazon oilfield, said it would request that the South American country's regulator review its application for operating in Block 192. Perupetro, the state agency, disqualified Upland for not demonstrating financial capability. However, Upland claimed it had sufficient capital to reinvest and resume exploitation. Local Indigenous communities have protested at the now-dormant block, demanding that it be remedied for the extensive damage done to the forest, soil and waters around. Block 192 is near the Ecuadorian border and is considered crucial to supplying Petroperu's Talara refinery, which has been battling a debt crises following the expensive modernization. Perupetro's commission found late last week that Upland's financial solvency was insufficient to "prove its economic and financial capability to assume 79% the license contract for Block 192". Upland Oil and Gas responded to a press release by saying that they have sufficient capital and funding to meet the investment program set forth by Perupetro, despite finding it excessive. It said that it would be willing to offer a credit line for the state-owned oil company. Petroperu is a minor partner in this block and has said that it expects crude oil production from the reserve to reach up to 12 000 barrels per day. Upland stated that "this important asset has been paralyzed in Peru for over five years. The government has lost more than one billion dollars in taxes and royalties." Formerly the largest city in Peru Leakage Block 192 was halted in its production largely due to oil spills that contaminated the topsoil of the Amazon River, the native plants, and the streams.
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Gold prices steady as attention shifts to US payroll data
Investors hunkered in for the U.S. payroll data that is due this week, to gauge the likelihood of another U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut. By 1:32 pm, spot gold had not changed much from $4,002.35 per ounce. ET (1832 GMT). U.S. gold futures for December delivery settled 0.4% higher at $4,014. Edward Meir, Marex analyst, said: "Gold is carving out a range of trading. It could be in the high 3,000s to mid-4,000s. This is expected consolidation following such a large move." Metal, which gained 53% in this year, is down over 8% since the record high reached on October 20, 2008. Investors will be watching the ISM PMIs and ADP U.S. Employment data this week for clues about the Fed's future policy. The U.S. shutdown of the government has prevented the release of important economic data. This includes the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last week, the central bank cut interest rates again this year. But Chair Jerome Powell stated that another cut was not "a foregone decision" this year. The traders now price a 65.3% probability of a December rate cut, down from an almost certainty last week prior to the Fed meeting. Gold that does not yield a return is more popular when interest rates are low or in economic times of uncertainty. "Gold's pause looks like a breather and not a collapse." The short-term decline can be explained by seasonal softness, temporary Chinese policies, and a stronger dollar, but this does not change the long-term story, according to Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank's head of commodity strategies. China has ended its long-standing policy of tax exemption for certain gold retailers, which could set back the buying spree in the world's largest consumer market. Other than that, silver spot fell by 0.8% at $48.25 per ounce. Platinum was down 0.2% to $1,564.30, and palladium rose 0.4% to $1439.86. (Reporting from Noel John in Bengaluru and Pablo Sinha; additional reporting by Kavya Baliaraman; editing by Leroy Leo, Vijay Kishore and Leroy Leo)
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Guinea's former junta chief to run for President
Mamady Doumbouya, the leader of Guinea's junta, announced his candidacy for the December 28 presidential election. This could extend his reign in power by another five years. Doumbouya had promised not to run for office when he took power in the West African nation in 2021. A new constitution, pushed by the military junta in September and approved by a referendum, opened the way for his candidacy. The new charter replaced the arrangements made after the coup, which had prohibited members of the junta to contest elections. Candidates must also live in Guinea, and have a minimum age of 40 to 80 years. This would exclude two powerful candidates: former president Alpha Conde (87), who lives abroad and former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo (73), in exile due to corruption charges that he denies. Others, such as former foreign minister Hadja Makale Camara and former prime minister Lansana Kouyate, have also submitted their applications. Simandou, in Guinea, is the site of the largest untapped bauxite deposits and the richest iron ore deposit. Reporting by Guinea Newsroom; Writing by Ayen deng Bior; editing by Andrew Heavens
New technology aids Brazil's crackdown on illegal Amazon gold trade
Harley Sandoval, an evangelical pastor, real estate representative and mining business owner, was detained in July 2023 for illegally exporting 294 kilos of gold from Brazil's Amazon to the United States, Dubai and Italy.
On paper, the gold was sourced from a legal possibility Sandoval was certified to mine in the northern state of Tocantins. However authorities stated not an ounce of gold had been mined there because colonial times.
Using innovative forensic innovation, in addition to satellite imagery, Brazil's Federal Authorities said it was able to develop that the exported gold did not come from the Tocantins possibility. Instead, it had actually been dug up from three various wildcat mines in neighboring Pará, some on safeguarded Native reservation lands, according to formerly unreported court documents dated November 2023 seen .
The prosecution is among the first in Brazil using the new innovation to take on clandestine trading that might account for as much as half of the gold output of Brazil, a major producer and exporter of the precious metal. Illegal gold mining has actually risen at countless websites in the Amazon rain forest, bringing ecological damage and criminal violence to the area.
Seizures of unlawfully mined gold have surged seven-fold in the past 7 years, according to Federal Authorities records acquired exclusively .
Sandoval, who has actually been launched pending trial and continues to preach with his wife at a Pentecostal Evangelical church in the central Brazilian city of Goiania, denies the accusations. He maintains there is no chance to establish where the gold was mined once it is melted down into ingots for export.
That's difficult. To export gold one constantly needs to melt it down, he told Reuters by telephone.
THE DNA OF GOLD
Historically, gold is infamously difficult to trace, particularly when metal from various sources has actually been melted together, erasing the original signatures. After that, it can quickly be traded as a monetary possession or be used in the jewelry industry.
However private investigators say that's starting to change. A cops program called Targeting Gold is developing a database of samples from throughout Brazil that are taken a look at with radio-isotope scans and fluorescence spectroscopy to figure out the distinct composition of aspects.
The technique, long utilized in archaeology, was pioneered in mining by University of Pretoria geologist Roger Dixon to assist compare legal and stolen gold.
The program established in collaboration with university researchers consists of the use of powerful light beams from a. particle accelerator at a Sao Paulo laboratory to study nano-sized. impurities related to gold, be it dirt or other metals like. lead or copper, that assist trace its origins.
Humberto Freire, director of the Federal Authorities's. recently-created Environment and Amazon Department, said the. innovation enables scientists to examine the DNA of Brazilian. gold.
Nature has actually marked the gold with isotopes and we can check out. these distinct fingerprints with radio-isotope scans, Freire. said. With this tool we can trace unlawful gold before it gets. refined for export.
The program has actually assisted fuel an increase in gold seizures. since leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office. last year-- up 38% in 2023 from 2022, according to federal government. numbers seen . New Brazil central bank gold market. policies, including compulsory electronic tax receipts for all. trades and tightened tracking of suspect transactions, have. also helped, according to Freire.
We approximate that around 40% of the gold that is drawn out. in the Amazon is prohibited, he informed Reuters. Brazil exported 110. tonnes of gold in 2020 worth $5 billion, according to official. information, ranking among the world's leading 20 exporters. Last year,. exports were 77.7 tonnes, a drop the government credits to. improved enforcement of illegal mining.
INDIGENOUS STRESS
Lula's predecessor, reactionary President Jair Bolsonaro. weakened environmental protections in the Amazon. That triggered a new gold rush in Brazil, spurred by record. world gold costs that were increased by geopolitical tensions. and reserve bank purchases, led by China. Prices have actually continued to new highs, trading at around $2,650 per. ounce on Friday.
Gold hurries have actually been a hallmark of mineral-rich Brazil from. its Portuguese colonial past. However the latest rise in wildcat. mining start throughout Bolsonaro's administration has actually been. unprecedented. Satellite images reveal there are some 80,000 such. prospects today in the Amazon jungle, more than ever. registered before. As soon as controlled by prospectors with gold pans, artisanal mining. in Brazil has ended up being an industrial-scale activity with heavy. excavating equipment and million-dollar river dredgers. Criminal. organizations fly people, devices and gold into and out of the. region with helicopters and airplanes that land at private. airstrips. Their excavations frequently leave gaping ponds of sludge. contaminated with mercury, used to separate the gold from dirt. and other minerals. In 2015, countless miners who invaded the Yanomami. territory, the country's largest Native reservation on the. northern border with Venezuela, brought violence and disease. that caused malnutrition and a humanitarian crisis among the. tribe, triggering Lula to send in troops. But numerous returned this year after the military pulled out. Lula,. who has actually promised to mark out unlawful gold mining, attempted to fight. back by releasing special forces of the environmental management. agency Ibama into Native bookings and forest. conservation parks.
Authorities state cracking down on the organized crime gangs that. back the wildcat miners is the next action in staunching an. unlawful trade that feeds the precious jewelry and watch market in. Switzerland, which purchases 70% of Brazil's exported gold, according. to government trade data.
Amazon neighbors, consisting of Colombia and French Guiana, are. thinking about embracing the Brazilian gold analysis method to deal. with their unlawful gold trade and European governments have. shown interest, consisting of Switzerland and Britain, the top. importers from Brazil after Canada, cops and diplomats stated.
Brazil accounts for simply 1% of gold imported by Switzerland,. a worldwide trade hub for the metal, and measures are in place to. import just lawfully mined gold, a Swiss embassy statement said. The embassy stated it has set up a working group with other. importing countries to study traceability and. anti-counterfeiting tools.
A 2022 study by non-profit watchdog Instituto Escolhas found. that 52% of the gold exported from the Amazon was illegal,. almost all from protected Indigenous appointment lands or. national conservation parks.
A lively lobby for informal gold mining has endured. Bolsonaro in Brazil's Conservative Congress, where pending costs. propose legalizing wildcat mining.
For now, however, gold samples from across Brazil are being. contributed to a database with the assistance of researchers at the Federal. Authorities's criminology institute lab in Brasilia, where forensic. expert Erich Moreira Lima manages tiny scanning of gold. nuggets that are kept in a safe.
Now that we have a group established, we intend to analyze the. 30,000 gold samples the Brazilian Geological Service has. collected. In a couple of years, we must have mapped all Brazil's 24. gold producing regions, he told Reuters.
Geologist Maria Emilia Schutesky and her group at the. National University of Brasilia's geosciences laboratory conduct mass. spectrometry scans on gold samples to recognize associated. molecules, such as lead, to position the gold's origins.
We scientists look for a 100% capability to trace gold, but that. is more than what the authorities requires to prove a criminal activity, which is. just to establish that the gold does not originate from where a. suspects declares it is from, Schutesky said.
(source: Reuters)